GSA work on online gambling standards progressing

A familiar name in the online gambling industry – former Malta regulator Mario Galea – surfaced recently in articles about the Gaming Standards Association, for which his company Random consults.

Galea is part of a move to create pragmatic online gambling standards through which industry companies can reduce R&D costs, bring more inter-operability to the business, speed time to market and improve consumer protection.

The Gaming Standards Association, which includes in its membership big names like Alberta Gaming & Liquor Commission; Aristocrat Technologies Inc.; Bally Technologies, Inc. (BYI); International Game Technology (IGT); Konami Gaming Inc.; Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation; SPIELO International, and WMS Gaming Inc., has set up an online gaming committee, indicating the importance now being placed on this sector of the industry.

The mandate of the committee is to consult with industry movers and shakers in order to zero in on problem or potentially problematic issues facing the sector, and then develop a comprehensive framework for technical standards for regulated online gaming.

“Online gaming requires a multitude of standards across the various domains to ensure consumer protection, proper regulatory monitoring and to bring the creation of a unified global communication standard that lowers integration costs, speeds time to market and enables continued technology innovation,” says Galea.

“The online gaming industry has reached a critical stage that is transforming it across all sectors. We invite all stakeholders to come forward and participate fully in the essential process of formulating online gaming standards.”

GSA president, Peter DeRaedt says, “Online gaming has existed in some form for more than 18 years, and amazingly, there is not even a proper understanding of what online gaming is. The way to achieve integrity, transparency, and consumer protection and to combat illegal activity in online gaming is through standards, and the way to achieve success in standards development is through collaboration.

“Collaboration must consist of affiliations with existing industry organisations that can then identify partnerships that will move the industry forward. That is the role that GSA has played in the land-based world for more than 15 years, and that is why GSA is uniquely positioned to lead in this area.”

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